David Patten Kimball (1839-1883)
}} David Patten Kimball (1839-1883) LDS Arizona Pioneer - 1856 Martin Handcart Rescuer Timeline * Father: Son of LDS Pioneer, Heber Chase Kimball (1801-1868) * Mother: Vilate Murray (1806-1867) * 1839-Aug-23 : Birth in Nauvoo, Hancock Co, Illinois, USA * 1856-Nov: Martin Handcart Rescue Expedition * 1857-Apr-13 : Marriage to Caroline Marie Williams (1843-1916) at Salt Lake City, Utah Territory * 1869 : Called by Wilford Woodruff (1807-1898) to serve as president of the Bear Lake Stake in Northern Utah * 1877 : Moved with Family to Eastern Arizona * 1881-Nov/Dec: Arizona Trip - Snowstorm and lost in desert. * 1883-Nov-21 : Died in Saint David, Cochise Co, Arizona Territory, USA Biography David Patten Kimball married Caroline Marion Williams at the age of 17 and 13 on Monday, 13 April 1857 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. David Patten Kimball was sealed to Caroline Marion Williams on 7 February 1867 in the Endowment House, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. David Patten Kimball married Juliet Merrill at the age of 30 and 18 on Tuesday, 12 October 1869 in the Endowment House, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. No Children listed. David Patten Kimball and Caroline Marion Williams lived in Utahville, Maricopa, Arizona on 1 June 1880. David Patten Kimball died on Tuesday, 21 November 1883 at the age of 42 years, 2 months and 30 days. 1856 Handcart Company Rescue In the winter of 1856, Kimball helped a company of handcart pioneers stranded near the Sweetwater River, in response to a request from Brigham Young. Several accounts of the event imply that Young promised Kimball and others a guaranteed place in heaven for their efforts, although no direct evidence attributing this statement to Young exist. Bear Lake LDS Stake President David P Kimball was appointed to serve as president of the newly formed Bear Lake Stake on June 20, 1869 (per journal of W Woodruff). Additionally he was vice-president of the local branch of the School of the Prophets, serving under the resident General Authority, Charles C Rich. He continued these callings before moving to Arizona in 1877. Arizona LDS Pioneer David Kimball moved to Arizona in 1877 and became a teamster, and when he died he was first counselor in the St. Johns Arizona LDS Stake Presidency. In November 1881, Kimball was making a freight run between Maricopa railroad station and Prescott when he was caught in a snowstorm near Prescott and contracted pneumonia. On the return trip, he became separated from his traveling companion and wagon and got lost in the Salt River valley south of Wickenburg. He spent four days in the desert with no food or water. During this time, he reported seeing a vision in which his deceased father warned him to get his life in order, and that he had only two years to live. Kimball had doubted Mormonism for over a decade. His traveling companion assembled a search party, and they found Kimball near present-day Surprise. (I find this story conflicting - how could he accepting a calling to be in the LDS stake presidency, practicing polygamy and doubting Mormonism?) Kimball died at the age of 44 on November 21, 1883, in St. David, Arizona. Handcard Monument Tribute A story in the LDS Improvement Era identifies David P Kimball as one of the rescuers but incorrectly reports his early demise. He (Pres Hinckley) then continued the story from the Improvement Era: " `Three 18-year-old boys belonging to the relief party came to the rescue, and to the astonishment of all who saw, carried nearly every member of that ill-fated handcart company across the snowbound stream. The strain was so terrible and the exposure so great, that in later years all the boys died from the effects of it. When President Brigham Young heard of this heroic act, he wept like a child, and later declared publicly, `that act alone will ensure C. Allen Huntington, George W. Grant and David P. Kimball an everlasting salvation in the Celestial Kingdom of God, worlds without end.' " President Hinckley then spoke of having dedicated a monument at the place where members of the Willie Company, moving ahead of the Martin Company, were rescued from certain death by those sent from the Salt Lake Valley by Brigham Young. "We then dedicated a monument at the summit of Rocky Ridge, where the trail winds steeply to the summit marking the Continental Divide," he continued. "It is a difficult climb even today in good weather. At that time, with snow and bitter cold, it was a trail of tears and death." Family & Marriage # David Patten Kimball (1860-1918) - # Thomas Stephen Kimball (1862-1939) - m. Francis Williams # Quince Knowlton Kimball (1867-1949) - m. Mary Merrill # Effie Isabelle Kimball (1869-1945) - m. Orrin Merrill # Viroque Kimball (1870-1877) - died young - age 7 - named for a relative living with the family on the 1870 US Census. # Lola Gay Kimball (1870-1944) - m. Daniel Eldredge # Heber Chase Kimball (1872-1959) - m. Sarah Trejo # Charles Colton Kimball (1874-1944) - m. Clara Hinck # Crozier Kimball (1879-1966) - m. Mary Roberts # Vilate Kimball (1881-1962) - m. Edwin Blaney # Thatcher Kimball (1883-1956) - m. Marnie Melton Vital Records 1870 US CENSUS Taken at Paris, Rich Co, Utah - June 1870. Brother Solomon F Kimball is living next door with the Mary Williams family. Top of Page 1. * Kimball, David P (M-30) / Farmer * Kimball, Caroline W (F-27) * Kimball, David P Jr (M-10) * Kimball, Thomas (M-8) * Kimball, Quincy (M-3) * Kimball, E Isabella (F-1) * Kimball, Viroque (F-18) References * Spencer Kimball Family Ancestry * Heber Kimball Immigrant Ancestors * - Wikipedia History * Tribute to Utah Pioneers - LDS Church News July 1995. * Life Sketch of David P Kimball by Solomon F Kimball - Archive Books - PDF Download webpage __SHOWFACTBOX__ Category:American Latter Day Saints Category:Kimball–Snow–Woolley family Category:Mormon pioneers Category:Stake presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Category:People from Hancock County, Illinois Category:People from Cochise County, Arizona Category:People from Rich County, Utah Category:Members of the Council of Fifty Category:Stake Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints